Born in 1859 to Irish immigrants, Mary Dowling arrived at the height of anti-Irish and anti-Catholic fervor in America. The hardscrabble life her family led provided the foundation of grit and determination that would serve her well. She married the enterprising John Dowling. He offered her oversight of their burgeoning bourbon company's financial books and sought her insight as they grew from distillery investors to sole proprietors of Waterfill and Frazier.

Mary's first trials arrive in a series of tragedies that leave her widowed and with a business no one wants to support. Steering the lives of her eight children, she bucks up against a male-dominated bank and distributor that drop her to align herself with progressive partners. She scales to ever higher heights, becoming an influential member of Lawrenceburg society while achieving immense wealth. When Prohibition arrives with its animosity toward immigrants and Catholics, Mary is forced into semi-retirement—until the federal government comes after her on charges of bootlegging. Only then does she bite back, determining that if she is going to be treated like a criminal, she will behave like one.

Mother of Bourbon is the story of a pioneering and visionary woman who achieved success in a system designed to suppress her, and against a government that strived to repress her.